Earlier this week we brought you some tips on haggling from The Brooklyn Flea Market. In typical fashion, Consumerist readers replied with their own great tips on haggling, hard-won info tempered in the flames of many a flea market battle. Here’s the best of your best on how to haggle like a rockstar, Consumerist-reader style:

* Find out how much a table costs to rent. Usually vendors want to at least make the cost of their travel and table off the first few sales, b/c everything after that is profit. So you can use that to bargain, saying that this sale will pay off their table. – GitEm$teveDave

* Best strategy is develop a long term relationship with the seller. – SWBLOOPERS

* Wait till the last minute on the last day – people are just trying to get rid of stuff so they don’t have to bring it home at that point. – MaryK

* If an item is $130, offer $100, not $95. The third digit makes a big difference [in terms of getting the seller to agree] – civ_IV_fan

* Some people just don’t know what to disclose and what to keep to themselves when haggling. When I was looking for one wireless guitar for Rock Band, a seller was pushing to sell me two. Then he wrote, “I just want to get rid of them,” which gave me a great opening to bump down the price. I think we both walked away happy in the end. – hoi-polloi

* Say “I can’t really see myself paying X, but I could definitely pay Y.” Don’t make out like your Mr./Mrs. slick and you’re trying to pull a deal over their eyes. When you agree on a price, thank them, make eye contact, shake hands if it’s that kind of deal. You have to enjoy people to enjoy haggling. The art of socializing face to face is dying! – RadarOReally has got Vacation Fever

* It helps to form a relationship right then and there. I think the best advice here, particularly if they’re a vendor the specializes in something in particular, is to ask questions about their specialty and how they came to be interested in it. – jesusofcool

* Don’t try to haggle the price down on handmades unless you’re buying a handful of items. I don’t do markets anymore (focusing more on wholesale business is infinitely more profitable for me) but they are a TON of work, and it’s tough to break even. I was never particularly offended when people tried to haggle, but I could never agree to lower my prices unless people were buying multiples. Now, from the other side of the table, I am happy to pay full price for an item if I think it’s worth it! – crackers

* One of the things I learned from Pickers and found that it works in real life is to combine items and offer a lump sum. – Stuck in the revolving door again

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Tips On Haggling From The Particular People At The Brooklyn Flea Market

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